As part of intensified efforts to combat visa trading, the Board Council of the Public Authority for Manpower has stressed the need to impose harsher penalties on visa traders; including fines ranging from KD1,000 to KD 5,000 for every laborer brought into the country without giving him a job.

This is one of the recommendations presented in the council’s meeting chaired by Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Hind Al-Subaih on Tuesday. Sources close to the ministry revealed the representatives of several concerned government bodies attended the meeting, during which a number of vital proposals were discussed in a bid to stop unscrupulous individuals from bringing marginalized workers into the country in exchange for exorbitant fees.

The meeting also tackled the latest statistical report on the developments in the local labor market after allowing companies to recruit workers from abroad provided these workers constitute 25 percent of the companies’ actual manpower needs. Sources added the council is now waiting for another statistical report which is expected to contain more details.